Feed times

[sproutly2003]

I feed my LO every 5 hours except at night when he goes up to 8 hours. This means his feeds aren't at the same times each day. The problem I'm having is if his bottle falls at 6.30pm he will sleep until about 2.30am, not ideal as I don't go to bed at 7pm. If he has his bottle at 10pm he still wakes at 3am. Any suggestions?

 

[Loopy lotti]

My LO is usually fed every 4 hours, apart from the 8 hrs he sleeps at night.

So, our routine is normally bed time feed at 9pm, early morning feed at 5am, he then goes back to sleep until 8am-ish sometimes even 9am (as do I ), then he feeds at 9am, 1pm, 5pm and back to the 9pm bed time feed. Of course there are occasional deviances from this ie if he's going through a growth spurt I sometime cave and feed him up to half hour early, or if we have a long car journey and he's fast asleep in the car the feed time gets pushed forward. Somehow though we always seem to eventually end up back at the above times! I do appreciate how lucky we are to have such a seemingly straight forward baby!!

As your LO is also sleeping well at night then maybe you could increase the amount each feed and try every 4 hours instead of every 5 as it's an easier routine to follow?

 

[sunshine03]

My 8wk old has been in a steady routine for a few weeks now - 7am feed, 11am, 3pm, bath at 6:30pm, 7pm feed then I dream feed when I go to bed between 10/11pm then he wakes between 2/3am and then goes until 7am when we start it all over again! I would defo try and get him onto 4hr feeds during the day then at least you know they will be at the same time everyday. X

 

[pinklizzy]

Does he go back to sleep if he has a bottle at 2.30-3am? It has only been in the last couple of weeks that my LO has stopped waking around 3am for a feed and that's with a bedtime of 6.30-7pm and feeds every 4hrs during the day (and the last few days we've gone back to this routine after a week or so of sttn )
I don't mind doing that feed, it's just when he doesn't settle back to sleep after it that it gets tiring. His feeds are never at the exact same time during the day though, sometimes he's just not hungry or is napping.

 

[MindUtopia]

Most babies tend to wake at a similar time for a night feed, regardless of how much they eat during the day. If he's waking at 2:30-3am for a feed, just feed him. Try not to think about timing it all as it will just drive you crazy. If he's hungry, feed him. If you need more sleep than you're getting with that night feed, go to bed earlier so you can get yourself caught up on sleep and not be as tired. Also, have your partner do the night feed and settle him back to sleep part of the week (they're just as able to do it as we are and just as able to cope during the day at work on less sleep, just like us). It won't last forever, but in the meantime, try not to overthink.